Video: "Heigh Ho" - Los Lobos

I'm almost ready to end the listening party for Los Lobos' album of Disney covers called (appropriately enough) Los Lobos Goes Disney, but here's a new video for the utterly awesome leadoff track, "Heigh Ho." It's like one of those YouTube mashups except it's officially sanctioned and makes perfect sense, though watching the dwarves march with Los Lobos' voices coming out of their mouths is a little odd...

Los Lobos - "Heigh Ho" [YouTube]

Stream Los Lobos Goes Disney

I've talked about it a lot, but Los Lobos' album of Disney covers, called Los Lobos Goes Disney (of course), is out today, October 27th, after being an Amazon exclusive since last month.

Want to hear what one of the country's great bands does with one of the great American musical canons?

OK. I'm proud to invite you to go here and join the listening party, courtesy of Disney. Even if you're not a big fan of Los Lobos or the Disney canon, just listen to the first track, the awesome cover of "Heigh Ho" - you won't be disappointed. [Too late: Limited time only, and all that jazz...]

Finally. Los Lobos Goes Disney

Well, it wasn't September 1, as I mentioned earlier, but we have proof that the Los Lobos album of Disney covers not only exists, but will be sprung upon the population this month.

Los Lobos Goes Disney is the title (check out that awesome cover art to the left), and it's being released September 22 as an Amazon exclusive.

[Update: For a limited time, go here and listen to the whole thing.]

The tracklisting -- a mix of stuff obvious and not (yay! it includes a song from Toy Story that isn't "You've Got a Friend in Me") after the jump.
1. Heigh-Ho - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
2. I Wan'na Be Like You - The Jungle Book
3. Not in Nottingham - Robin Hood
4. The Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room - The Enchanted Tiki Room
5. Grim Grinning Ghosts - Haunted Mansion
6. I Will Go Sailing No More - Toy Story
7. The Ugly Bug Ball - Summer Magic
8. Cruella De Vil - 101 Dalmatians
9. Bella Notte - Lady and the Tramp
10. Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah - Song of the South
11. The Bare Necessities - The Jungle Book
12. Oo-De-Lally - Robin Hood
13. When You Wish Upon a Star/It's a Small World - Pinocchio/"it's a small world"

New Los Lobos Disney Album Out This September. We Think.

Remember when I I told you about the new album of Disney cover songs set to be released by Los Lobos later this year? Of course you don't, because I did that almost a year ago.

Well, it appears that the past year has been a difficult one for Los Lobos and the Mouse, whose Hollywood Records imprint dropped the band:

"Finally, after two years, we twisted their arms enough to where they are gonna release it, whatever that even means anymore, on September 1," says [Los Lobos guitarist Louie] Perez, who adds that even at this late date, the album has no title. "I think we are a little bit detached from it now. We're not exactly rolling up our sleeves to work on this record, because we don't really have anything to do with the label, and I think they are doing the same."

Ouch.

Perhaps it's not so surprising that Hollywood dropped the band -- take one look at Hollywood's roster, with the likes of Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, and seemingly every other Disney Channel graduate, and Los Lobos was the odd band out. (We'll ignore Queen for the sake of this discussion.)

Having said that, if Hollywood just lets this album wither quietly, I will be peeved. Because the album has the potential to be great. In this interview, Perez says it includes “Lady and the Tramp,” and "a surf version of 'When You Wish Upon a Star.'" And here he says it'll also include "When You Wish Upon a Star," "Bella Notte," "You've Got a Friend in Me," and a Spanish-language take on "Heigh-Ho." (OK, can we at least put a ten-year moratorium on "You've Got a Friend in Me" covers?)

Seriously, Disney, don't mess this up. Get this out there. Or I'll be forced to do something bad. Like, annoy a cat or something.

Disney = "Funky Old Songs": Los Lobos To Release New Kids Album

Well, it's not quite an album of songs from Mexico and Latin America along with some originals, but it'll be cool nonetheless, I should think -- Los Lobos is releasing a family-friendly album of Disney classics for a November release. Let's let Steve Berlin describe it (to Billboard):

"The conceptual framework is, we interpreted classic Disney songs like 'Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah,' 'When You Wish Upon A Star' and 'I Wanna Be Like You (The Monkey Song). There are no Elton John-era Disney tracks. But it came out really good, and we're all happy with it."

Frankly, "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" gets covered enough, we probably don't need yet another version. That song is many things, but it is not a "funky old song," which is how Berlin describes the record.

The mention of Los Lobos' contribution to Stay Awake, the collection of reinterpretations of Disney classics from artists such as Tom Waits, Sinead O'Connor, and Sun Ra, makes me think that, 20 years after the release of that album, it's time for a sequel. Sure, Disney's got their DisneyMania line, but most of those artists weren't, er, born when Stay Awake was released.